Jakarta, April 17, 2024, Public Virtue Research Institute (PVRI) together with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Indonesia held the 8th edition of the A.E. Priyono Democracy Forum. Entitled “The Future of Indonesian Democracy,” the event took the form of a public forum at the Erasmus Huis Auditorium in Jakarta attended by speakers from STF Driyarkara, BRIN Political Research Center, Project Multatuli, and the ASEAN Youth Forum.

To start the day, PVRI and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Indonesia also organized an informal meeting that provided a space for Indonesian students who have concerns about the development of democracy in Indonesia. Among the eight students represented at the meeting was Cornelius Prabhaswara Marpaung, an undergraduate student of Cultural Anthropology at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada.

In a lively and relaxed discussion, attended by staff of the Political Affairs Department of the Royal Netherlands Embassy to Indonesia as well as PVRI, everyone was able to express their concerns, hopes and expectations for the development of democracy in Indonesia. In keeping with his interests, Cornelius raised the issues of health and social inclusion for marginalized groups as important factors to consider to support the development of not only procedural, but also substantive democracy in Indonesia.

The event lasted until late afternoon, and was closed with a visit to the exhibition booths of various civil society groups at Erasmus Huis Jakarta with the speakers and Embassy staff.

UGM Master of Middle Eastern Cultural Studies Program invited Prof. Dr. Hassan Youssef, Professor from Canal Suez University Egypt in a public lecture “The Development of Arabic Literature: Theory and Application” on Wednesday, March 6, 2024 in Room 709 Soegondo Building, Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM. The public lecture was attended by the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM for Academic and Student Affairs, Dr. Nur Saktiningrum, M.Hum., lecturers of the Study Program, as well as students of the KBTT Master Program and the Arabic Literature Bachelor Program and a number of students from outside UGM.

In his remarks, the Vice Dean of FIB UGM explained two important points. First, the orientation of implementation is no longer to the ‘instrinsic’ of literary works, but must look at it more in relation to the culture of society. Second, the demand for international exposure for all academicians which can be done by involving lecturers from abroad and also providing financing opportunities abroad for students who want to disseminate their research.

The event continued with the presentation of material from Prof. Dr. Hassan Youssef. He explained that Arabic literature continues to develop from the pre-Islamic or Jahiliyah era to the contemporary period. Each era has its own advantages. For example, the excellence in the Jahiliy era was Muallaqat poetry. In the era of the arrival of Islam, his poems began to leave reproaches and insert the language of the Qur’an as a da’wah to spread Islam. The advantages of Arabic literature in contemporary times are the freedom of poetic patterns and the use of language that is easily understood by the public. The development of Arabic literature continues to move dynamically following the times. Therefore, students are encouraged to always actively follow its development and examine it so that they can understand the novelty in the world of Arabic literature.

Poetry is an activity that is favored by various groups, including young students. The freedom to create beautiful works of writing and literature that describe snippets or moments of life is poured through stanzas and lines that are not constrained by rigid rules. In the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM, the space to create poetry is made a place through student activities, the Semi-Autonomous Body Sanggar Lincak FIB UGM.

Starting from a collection of poetry fans among FIB UGM students who later formed a poetry community, Sanggar Lincak provides a space for FIB UGM students to gather and create together to produce poetry works with associations held every week at FIB UGM. Routine activities held by Sanggar Lincak such as Poetry Reading Classes and Rabun Senja which are open to the public, are an attraction for UGM Faculty of Arts students to participate and take part in poetry activities with other faculty students.

On Wednesday, March 20, 2024, Sanggar Lincak invited Public Relations of Faculty of Arts UGM to participate in regular weekly activities. Abyan Irsyad Fawzi, as the Head of BSO Sanggar Lincak guided the routine activities with 6 other students to create poetic creations with a special theme on that day, “Religiosity”. The students were given 15 minutes to compose their poetry creations and then read their respective poems. Each student was also given the opportunity to explain the background of the poem they composed.

Not only explaining the background, each student also shared their experiences and responded interactively to each other’s poems. This aims to build a sense of community and a safe space to not only poem, but tell stories. To know more about BSO Sanggar Lincak, students can visit through this Instagram link.

On Monday, March 4, 2024 a Thesis Proposal Seminar or Sempro was held offline for S-1 Cultural Anthropology students of FIB UGM. The Proposal Seminar was held openly, so that the academic community and the general public could see the seminar. This seminar was attended by 29 students who were divided into four clusters, namely the economic tourism cluster, lifestyle and health cluster, ecology and maritime cluster, and arts, gender, and labor cluster.

Dr. Atik Triratnawati, M.A as the Head of the S-1 Cultural Anthropology Study Program who was also present as a discussant lecturer in the proposal seminar this time delivered several comments, he conveyed a message related to the need for students to refer to SDG’s values in writing a thesis. He revealed that actually Gadjah Mada University has made a regulation where the final project, thesis, and thesis of students are required to refer to the values in the SDGs and all courses in the S-1 Cultural Anthropology Study Program have also referred to the values in the SDGs. However, from the seminars that have been held, almost none of them refer to or clearly link the thesis proposals that students present with the values in the SDGs. Responding to this phenomenon, he planned that in the future there will be a socialization related to embedding SDGs values in the thesis and thesis of Anthropology students.

In addition to mentioning about SDGs, Dr. Atik Triratnawati, M.A also responded to the seminar from a technical point of view, she advised related to the question sentence in the problem formulation. She revealed that there are still many students who underestimate the question sentence “why” and feel enough with the question sentence how, even though according to her if the why sentence is used in the right context, it will lead to broader and deeper research findings. He advised students who will take part in proposal seminars in the future to consider the aspect of the question sentence “why”.

From the proposal seminar that has been held, it can be seen that although the University has emphasized the importance of referring to SDGs values in the thesis, there are still gaps in its application by students. Support and socialization planning that will be initiated in the future are important steps to ensure that students can better understand and apply these principles in their thesis. In addition, messages related to the importance of asking “why” questions are also important points in improving the quality of research. All of this is an effort to encourage the achievement of the ideals contained in the SDGs, especially point 4 (Quality Education) through the contribution of Cultural Anthropology students at Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM.

Two students of the Master of Middle Eastern Cultural Studies, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Fahmi Mubarok and Lutfi Nurfadli became Liaison Officers and Translators at the Hajj and Umrah Organizers Association (Himpuh) Deliberation on Wednesday-Friday, February 27-29, 2024 at the Marriot Hotel Yogyakarta. The event was attended by Prof. Hilman Latief, M.A., Ph.D. as the Director General of Hajj and Umrah of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia. The two students accompanied Mashariq’s VIP guests from Saudi Arabia, Wael Mohammad M. Rasheedi and Mohammedamin Hassan M. Andergiri.

Fahmi Mubarok and Lutfi Nurfadli are graduates from two leading universities in the Middle East, Al-Azhar Cairo University in Egypt and Yarmouk University in Jordan. Armed with experience and communicative Official (Fusha) and Local (Ammiyah) Arabic language skills, these two outstanding students successfully translated directly the remarks of Saudi Arabia’s VIP guest representatives at the event. They also received positive responses and good appreciation from the VIP guests who were accompanied. Thus, knowledge of Arabic and Arabic language skills, especially spoken language, play an important role in establishing and improving the quality of cooperation between countries.